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Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander has said the British public needs reassurance about the number of UK arms being exported to Israel.

Credit: PA

The minister said the government must urgently publish a review into its existing UK export licenses to Israel.

In a statement, he said: “The Government must provide assurances that the Consolidated Criteria on arms control is being upheld, which prevents the export of military and dual use equipment which could be used for internal repression, the abuse of human rights or to provoke or prolong armed conflicts.”

Mr Alexander added it was a "source of shame" that the Prime Minister has so far failed to condemn the scale of Palestinian suffering as a result of the Israeli offensive.

As the occupying power, Israel is "responsible for the people of Palestine" and civilian casualties in Gaza raise "serious questions as to whether we should be allies in terms of supplying arms", according to an influential MP.

Chair of the International Development Committee, Sir Malcolm Bruce told Good Morning Britain Israel's decision to impose "that kind of a blockade" and "killing, quite obviously, innocent people" would not create lasting peace.

"We welcome the International Development Committee's strong support for our work on economic development in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and agree that sustainable development can only happen if economic restrictions are eased," a Government spokesman said.

"We will continue our work to help strengthen Palestinian institutions and build a prosperous and stable future Palestinian state. We are also committed to lasting change in Gaza, though we recognise that reconstruction and growth cannot happen until we have a durable ceasefire."

Israel's policies in Gaza are likely to be counter-productive to its own security situation, MPs have warned, as they called for David Cameron to do more over the issue.

The Commons International Development Committee said:

We saw a country whose people have known immense suffering now imposing conditions on their Palestinian neighbours which cause a different but very real suffering and often without real security justification.

We saw Israel taking a range of actions that hinder Palestinian economic development and must, at the very least, cause deep resentment on the Palestinian side, even amongst the most moderate and pragmatic people, and so will actually worsen Israel's own security.

In an interview with Channel 4 News, the former Home Office minister added that there was "unease" on the backbenches over the Gaza conflict and said that one "senior Conservative" backencher had been "on the phone in tears".

She said she hoped her resignation would leave "people who feel the same as I do feel prepared to raise those voices within Government".

Baroness Warsi was hailed by David Cameron before the Conservatives came to power, but has now halted her rise through the party's ranks - quitting as Foreign Minister over the Government's policy on Gaza.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says he wants to see arms licences to Israel suspended after the country "overstepped the mark" in its attacks on Gaza.

The Liberal Democrats leader said he shared Baroness Warsi's "concerns" over Britain's relations with Israel and said such licences should be halted pending an existing review of whether they should be revoked more permanently in future.